


All the Little Things

by arynna



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Gen, Swan Mills Family, Swan Queen - Freeform, Swen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-18
Updated: 2014-04-18
Packaged: 2018-01-19 20:20:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1482631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arynna/pseuds/arynna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina notices the little things others don't. Snow has her second child, Henry has his memories back because Regina and Emma shared True Love's Kiss. Fluffy, sappy goodness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All the Little Things

Regina cannot possibly know what she has given Emma. The Savior, she muses--is still deeply affected by the past that Regina created for her when she destroyed her mother’s happiness. It is not Yule, nor the blonde’s birthday. (Though Henry reminded her every day until the event had happened.) He remembers her, now. It still shakes something in Regina to realize that her true love is someone that she caused so much pain. Through a series of small gestures that most would think unimportant, Regina atones for the things she has done to Emma.

  
It’s little things that Regina notices about her love, that make her see the depths of the scars being sent through that tree 32 years ago have left. Emma does eat anything that isn’t nailed down or actively trying to run away, and her parents attribute this to her having a healthy appetite. She has seen Emma clear half of a pan of lasagna on her own, and eat three bear claws in a row without getting sick. Regina, used to seeing poverty and hungry children in the Enchanted Forest (and even Storybrooke, though she wouldn’t have noticed before Henry brought the Savior to town, so wrapped up was she in her little prince.) knows that this behavior is due to the fact that Emma probably had no idea where her next meal was coming from.

  
Emma flinches when voices are raised, though she can do her fair share of yelling. She hordes clothing for far longer than anyone Regina has ever met, clinging to ratty camisoles, worn out jeans, and shoes with holes in the soles. Regina takes the opportunity to replace Emma’s work boots with new, insulated winter boots without prompting.

  
“Hey, thanks! I really needed a new pair of boots, sweetheart!” it amazes her how Emma’s smile can light up a room, and how easily the term, ‘sweetheart’ rolls off the blonde’s tongue. She has taken to calling her ‘Gina’ sometimes, and Henry screws his face up when she does. He is nearly as tall as she is, these days. Time has turned her prince into a young man, and she was powerless to stop it.

  
She cooks Emma dinner, but more than anything, with patience she didn’t know she had, she teaches the blonde to cook. Emma still had her memories from New York, so she was better off than the Savior Henry had brought back from Boston, but she had yet to master much beyond the basics. Regina teaches her to ride horses, giving Emma a taste of freedom that can only be found via horseback. She slowly, painstakingly, loves Emma--in the only way she knows how. She does not love Emma because she feels obligated to. She loves Emma because Emma makes her a better person. It is for Emma, that she strives to be the best version of herself.

  
Regina takes care of Emma, like she took care of Henry for the first 10 years of his life, and takes care of him now. Like she wanted, so desperately to do when he had pushed her away. She tries to love her tiny family with all her heart, because more than anything, Regina knows loneliness. She is grateful for them, in a much different way than she is for crisp apples, Autumn leaves, and a glass of red wine after a long day. Regina didn’t ever think she, of all people, would get a second chance at getting things right.

Maybe Tink wasn’t too far off the mark with that assessment.

  
Regina watches Emma, when everyone else doesn’t. She mends the cracks, heals the hurts, and kisses away the tears. For all that Emma is the Savior, and she loves her new little brother--the blonde confides that she still sometimes feels very much like an orphan. Regina assures Emma that she and Henry are her family, and that her parents mean well. The Charmings dote on Emma more, after Regina has a heart-to-heart with Snow that for once does not end in Snow telling Regina to leave.  
Since Regina had placed the protection spell around their apartment, her stepdaughter had listened to Regina, before automatically judging her.

She knows that the Charmings do not mean to hurt Emma. They all just...Don’t know how to love very well. It reminds her of herself and Henry, before. She had explained that she didn’t know how to love very well, either. For people that bore a child of True Love, Snow and Charming were out of their depth when faced with an adult daughter they desperately wanted to get to know, but were afraid of pushing away.

Snow had taken Regina’s, “Treat her like an adult, but in many ways she still yearns to be near you...She just doesn’t know how. She misses being your friend, more than anything, and not just your daughter.” to heart. Sometimes, she lets Henry babysit while Snow and Emma have coffee at Granny’s in the afternoon.

  
On weekends, Henry, Charming, and Emma practice swordsmanship--or play Diablo 3 while Snow and Regina look on, shaking their heads in amusement. Charming touches Emma as though she is made of glass, at first, and may shatter if he looks at her wrong. After a few weeks of grass stained knees, video games, and working with Emma as the Deputy again; they relax into normalcy. Charming has never been the emotional type. Snow cries and hugs Emma more than Regina thought possible.

  
Charming will stroke his daughter’s hair, or offer her a crooked smile. It makes Regina’s heart swell with happiness when Emma rests his head on her father’s shoulder sleepily, while holding her baby brother. Snow tears up, as is expected. Henry rolls his eyes, and Regina quietly takes a picture. She hands Charming a tissue without commenting on the wetness in his eyes, though she wouldn’t blame him for crying. Snow has Regina swallowing a lump in her throat when she speaks quietly, not wanting to wake the two of them.

  
“I thought that you took everything from me, once...I was wrong. You’ve given me everything I could have ever wanted. I see why Emma loves you. You notice things others wouldn’t, and you try to make them better than they were.”  
“I love her.” Regina says thickly, “More than I can say.” It does not seem enough.

  
Emma cuddles up to her that night, all sleepy yawns and affectionate smiles.  
“My ‘Gina.”  
“Yes, dear. Yours.”  
“You promise?” Regina almost laughs, almost.  
“Oh, I promise.” she pulls the blonde into her arms, lulling them both into a restful night’s sleep.


End file.
